mysteriousvaultofsoulsfandomcom-20200214-history
Lair of the Shadow Broker
Following her past adventure in recovering Commander Shepard's corpse and delivering it to Cerberus, Liara T'Soni has been actively gathering intelligence on the Shadow Broker in an attempt to track him down and avenge her former partner's (Feron) supposed death. Commander Shepard receives a message from Cerberus Information Processing. The message mentions that Cerberus has uncovered secret information that could give Liara a lead on the Shadow Broker's whereabouts, and suggests that the Commander should pass it along. Shepard travels back to Illium to deliver the intel to Liara. At first, Liara is seemingly delirious about the information for it appears to hint on the Shadow Broker's true location. In addition, the message contains information that Liara's former drell partner, Feron, is actually still alive and is probably being held hostage by the Shadow Broker. After a short conversation on the subject with the Commander, Liara leaves her office and tells Shepard to meet her at her apartment. Upon Shepard's arrival at Liara's apartment, the Commander witnesses that the apartment is under investigation by Illium police, led by Asari Spectre Tela Vasir, who dismisses the cops as Shepard enters the apartment. In response to Shepard's question regarding the unexpected investigation, Vasir explains there has been an attempt on Liara's life. She tells the Commander that she is unsure of Liara's current location and that she was unsuccessful in finding any clues; she invites Shepard to further search the apartment for clues. Eventually, Shepard finds what appears to be a backup disk, which is then played by Vasir and the Commander. The disk is found to contain a recorded conversation between Liara and a Salarian contact by the name of Sekat, who explains that he has managed to pinpoint the Shadow Broker's location, and asks Liara to come to his office at Baria Frontiers in the Dracon Trade Center. Now that they have what they are looking for, Vasir and Commander Shepard travel to their next destination at Baria Frontiers. Just as the team arrives at the Dracon Trade Center, the three floors of the building are taken out by a sudden explosion, presumably an attempt to prevent Liara from receiving the information sought from Sekat. Vasir suggests that the Commander and the squad proceed inside while she takes off to the roof in order to seal off the building from the top. As Shepard and the squad enter the building, they find it to be a chaotic mess with dead bodies and wounded civilians all over the place. Tela maintains contact with Shepard to guide the Commander through. As Shepard proceeds to the upper floors into the Baria Frontiers Office, the Commander finds a clue that Liara has just signed in a few minutes ago, confirming that Liara is indeed in the building. Proceeding inside the office room for further exploration, Shepard and the team are blinded by a flash grenade, followed by a wave of enemies who immediately scatter around the area and open fire. Shepard quickly radios Vasir regarding the ambush, who tells the Commander that they are the Shadow Broker's private army and confirms their presence in the building. With no choice to fall back, Shepard and the team return fire, slowly but surely making their way through the small hallways of the destroyed office. Eventually, Shepard and the squad reach their destination, where they see Sekat's dead body after he was shot by a Shadow Broker agent, who is then shot by Vasir herself. Vasir asks the Commander about Liara's body, and if Shepard located it. However, Liara emerges from the shadows, wielding her pistol at Vasir. Liara explains to Shepard that Vasir tried to assassinate her, broke into her apartment, and is the one that signaled the Shadow Broker's agents. She also remarks that Vasir is the one who killed Sekat and took his data, which is currently in her possession, revealing that Vasir is, after all, an undercover Shadow Broker operative. Exposed, Vasir shatters the glass with her biotics and makes a run for it. Shepard tries to tackle Vasir before she jumps out the now-broken window but fails to do so, causing the Commander to fall to the floor while Liara proceeds to chase Vasir, not bothering to look back at Shepard and the squad. Shepard is then attacked by more enemies emerging from the nearby Eldfell-Ashland Energy office who attempt to slow down the Commander so that Vasir can get away. Shepard and the team continue to fight their way through the resistance while pursuing Vasir out of the building. When they exit the building, the team finds Liara exchanging fire with Vasir at the parking lot. It doesn't take long before Vasir calls her X3M and quickly jumps into it to fly away. Nonetheless, Liara finds a nearby vehicle, which she and Shepard use to chase Vasir through the skies of Illium. At the end of the chase, Shepard and Liara manage to catch Vasir, whose vehicle has crashed on the roof of the Azure Hotel. Although they don't actually have her yet, they can make their way to the other side of the roof where she most likely is. Coupled with the fact that Vasir is now wounded due to the crash and is thus slow, Shepard and Liara have a much better chance of capturing her this time. However, as the team lands and exits the vehicle, reinforcements arrive and start shooting at them. After the battle on the roof, Shepard and Liara continue running inside and emerge to the other side of the roof, where they spot Vasir's footsteps and follow them until they reach Vasir and aim their pistols at her, hoping she surrenders. Even though she is badly injured, Vasir grabs a random hostage to use as leverage against Shepard and Liara. The situation is quickly dealt with, and the hostage escapes, but Vasir, not about to give up just yet, starts attacking the squad with everything she has. At the end of the battle, Vasir drops to the floor, allowing Liara to pick up the data disk. Vasir protests to Shepard's remarks she sold out the Council, insisting she is nothing like Saren and claiming that the Shadow Broker is powerful and her work with him has helped save lives and kept the Citadel safe, and that she believes in sacrificing a few for the greater good. She also brings up the Commander's involvement with Cerberus and tries to judge Shepard for it, before she takes her last breath. Shepard then heads back to Liara, who is examining the disk, to have a conversation with her, which, among other things, involves the Shadow Broker's intention of wanting to kill Liara all along and at any cost. In any case, with the data in their possession, Shepard and Liara travel to the Shadow Broker's location for their primary objective. The data obtained reveals that the Shadow Broker settles on the planet Hagalaz, in the Sowilo System of the Hourglass Nebula. Specifically, the Shadow Broker lives aboard a massive ship that travels through the thick, erratic atmosphere of Hagalaz. Shepard, Liara, and a third squad member take the shuttle from orbit down to the planet. Liara provides Shepard with valuable input on the planet's atmosphere, the ship, and the general plan of the mission. First, they have to find a hatch that leads to the inside of the ship, where Feron is held. The shuttle lands, and Shepard and the team begin finding their way for a hatch to get inside. The weather is dreadful, and the layout of the ship's exterior isn't exactly easy to navigate through, but they proceed anyway. Shortly following their touchdown, the team is engaged by maintenance drones, which Liara presumes is because the drones think the team is debris from the storm. After that, troops from the Broker's army start coming and attacking the squad as they advance through. Shepard and the team continue advancing until they reach a door that allows them in. However, the door is locked, but Liara tries to hack it with a certain hacking device, which she says will take a while before the door is completely hacked open. Waiting for the door to open, the team has to defend the position from numerous waves of Shadow Broker forces. Eventually, the door is successfully hacked and they run inside. As the team makes their way inside, more troops are encountered. Liara remarks she has downloaded the ship's layout, saying that they're heading towards the prison block, where Feron is supposedly located. Continuing to the prison block and fighting their way through, the team reaches a locked door that leads directly to where Feron is. They bypass the door and enter to find Feron. Liara attempts to release the drell, but instead, he is shocked. Feron explains that his current status makes him unable to be pulled out, otherwise his brain will fry. Shepard states that this "looked too easy" and asks Feron regarding the Shadow Broker, but unfortunately, Feron can't say much, either, since even that gets him shocked. At this point, Liara and Shepard decide that their only option is to confront the Shadow Broker himself and put an end to all this. They walk out the prison block, facing more enemies along the way. At last, they make it to the Shadow Broker's office. Storming the Shadow Broker's office, where he calmly awaits them behind his desk, Shepard and the team find that the Shadow Broker is a species never encountered before. Not bothering to get up, the Broker coldly asks if Shepard and Liara are here for Feron, noting Shepard's actions are reckless even considering the Commander's history. After a brief word exchange between Shepard and the Broker, Liara demands Feron, to which the Broker responds by reminding Liara that her own actions are what caused this to Feron. Additionally, if the Collectors have not yet been defeated, the Broker will state that their offer for Shepard still stands. On the other hand, if the Collectors have been defeated, the Broker announces his intention to use the Normandy SR-2's IFF to salvage remaining Collector technology. The Broker notes the team's third squad member (commenting on the financial/political benefits their capture/death will bring him) while arrogantly disregarding Liara, telling her that he knows all her secrets. In response, Liara tells the Broker that he is a Yahg, likely taken from his homeworld as a trophy or pet, when he ended up killing the original Shadow Broker and taking his place some sixty years ago. This enrages the Broker, causing him to smash his desk and throws it at the three people standing in front of him, knocking out the third squad member, leaving Liara and Shepard against him. The two rely on each other to fight the giant yahg, in what seems like an unwinnable battle at first. At some point during the fight, Liara suggests that Shepard distracts the Shadow Broker while she prepares for an attack. As soon as Shepard provides the distraction, Liara uses her biotics to pull down the liquid in the above tank straight onto the Broker, which causes the Broker's barrier to malfunction and explode, ultimately destroying him for good. The battle causes the Broker's agents to radio his office asking for immediate updates on the situation. At first, Liara seems overwhelmed and unsure what to do. Then, she moves toward the panel and responds to the agents using the Shadow Broker's voice modification to avoid exposing herself, saying that the situation is under control and it was merely a hardware problem that disrupted communications momentarily, ending the message by requesting the agents to resume standard procedures and that she wants an update on all operations within a solar day. Feron comes to the room and quickly pulls his pistol, before he realizes everything has been dealt with. Liara explains that she is now the new Shadow Broker, believing that it is something she has to do. Feron leaves with the other squadmate to check on the power system, leaving Liara and Shepard by themselves. Shepard can comfort a crying Liara with a hug, who is happy that her revenge is finally over after two years' worth of struggling. Liara thanks Shepard for what the Commander has helped her accomplish and assures that Shepard is welcome any time. In a subsequent conversation, Liara will remark that her role as the Shadow Broker will likely play key role in the upcoming war against the Reapers. She also provides Shepard with additional insight on the Shadow Broker's plans and what he knew. Shepard can ask her about Feron, who is now residing with Liara. Later, Shepard may choose to invite Liara to the Normandy for a catch up. On the other hand, if Shepard refuses to have Liara onboard the Normandy, she will sadly accept the refusal. Category:Mass Effect Category:Video Game Category:Science Fiction